The Herzliya Magistrate's Court accepted the claim of 27 building tenants who entered into an eviction-construction deal with a developer against one reluctant tenant.
Judge Yaakov Shaked ordered the refusing tenant to pay the plaintiffs a sum of one million shekels plus 120,000 shekels for legal costs.
The focus of the lawsuit is on the rights holders of a residential building located on Uzia Alley Street in the Yoseftal complex in the Morasha neighborhood in Ramat Hasharon, who contracted in 2009 with Yuvalim Real Estate Company in a clearance-construction project.
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According to a city plan approved in 2011, the old buildings in the complex, including the building where the plaintiffs and defendant live, will be demolished as part of the project, and new residential towers will be erected in their place.
The plaintiffs claimed that by refusing to sign the eviction-construction agreement, the defendant is attempting to exert extortionate pressure on the plaintiffs, the developer, and the other apartment owners in the complex, in order to gain rights that he is not entitled to.
The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit for one million shekels against their neighbor through attorneys Guy Forer and Michael Adler of the Yigal Arnon & Co. law firm.
The refusing tenant claimed that the developer, not the rights holders, was behind the lawsuit, and that it was an improper attempt to put pressure on him.
The court rejected the claim and ruled that there is nothing wrong with the fact that behind the plaintiffs in the lawsuit under the Evacuation-Construction Law stands a developer, and that there is also no obstacle for this developer to finance the plaintiffs' legal expenses.
The court also ruled that there is nothing wrong with the fact that the lawsuit was filed to pressure the defendant to join the construction clearance project, "and that this is a proportionate and appropriate approach that is consistent with the purpose of the Construction Clearance Law.".
In addition, the tenant claimed that his refusal was reasonable, as joining the evacuation-construction project would mean that his elderly mother, who lives in the apartment, would be forced to move to a temporary apartment for the construction period, and only then would she move to live in a new apartment.
In this context, the court determined that the legislator's starting point is that the residents evacuated in an evacuation-construction project will move to temporary apartments for the construction period, and noted that the new buildings do not "grow on the surface of the ground out of thin air one clear day, as if they were built from Lego bricks," and therefore it is requested that the residents of the project move to temporary alternative housing during the construction period.
Judge Shaked ordered the refusing tenant to compensate the plaintiffs in the amount of one million shekels, plus legal costs of 120,000 shekels, and even ruled, contrary to previous rulings on the subject, that due to the lack of cooperation on the part of the refusing tenant to reach agreements between the parties on the court's recommendation, the obligation will not be canceled even if the refusing tenant signs an evacuation-construction agreement with the developer.
However, the judge noted that if the refusing tenant contacts his neighbors with a request to waive the amount, it will be at their discretion.
